1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to the problem of providing an effective switch (or switchable attenuator) on a silicon integrated circuit (IC) at millimeter-wave frequencies, which has the desired isolation or attenuation, while also providing very low insertion loss when no attenuation is desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While switches are straightforward to implement on a silicon IC (integrated circuit) at low-to-moderate frequencies, the implementation becomes increasingly difficult at millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies, because of losses caused by undesired parasitic circuit capacitance (C), resistance (R), and inductance (L).
In particular, series switches become lossy at mmWave frequencies, and a variety of circuits have been invented to reduce the loss of series switches. Shunt switch topologies can be less lossy at high frequencies, but the performance of even shunt topologies is ultimately limited by the on-state R and off-state RCL of the shunt switching element.
However, the related arts fail to overcome the problem of providing an effective switch (or switchable attenuator) on a silicon integrated circuit (IC) at millimeter-wave frequencies, which has the desired isolation or attenuation, while also providing very low insertion loss when no attenuation is desired.